Bay Shore Wellness Alliance

The White House – Presidential Correspondence

March 4, 2010

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear First Lady Michelle Obama:

My name is Christine Martin and I am writing you on behalf of the Bay Shore Wellness Alliance, Inc.

The Bay Shore Wellness Alliance, organized in May 1997, is a non-for-profit consortium of local government, civic groups, Bay Shore School District educators and parents, college and university educators, hospitals, and community health care professionals.  Over the past several years, with a shoe string budget, we have been developing school-based wellness programs for students and community, providing direct feedback on the benefits of physical activity and healthy lifestyles, creating wellness centers within each individual school within the Bay Shore School District, and supporting informational and activity-based wellness programs for students and community.

Over the past several months, we have been working on building three walking trails to place in Bay Shore to bring wellness into the community.   These trails will be free of cost to all who would like to use them.  We hope by bringing more foot traffic into downtown Bay Shore, we can help revitalize our town.  Through our walking trails, we hope to promote healthy and active community events.

Bay Shore is a very diverse community, located in the Town of Islip, on Long Island, New York.  We are 42 miles east of Manhattan and close to two airports with just a short flight from Washington, D.C.

Please see our enclosed brochure for more information regarding our organization and walking trails project.  We are holding a fundraiser for our trails on Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 6 p.m. at a local restaurant to raise funds for our project.  It would be our honor to have you attend as our guest.  More information on our event can also be seen on our website www.bayshorewellnessalliance.org.

Sincerely,

Christine Martin

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Dear Christine Martin:

Thank you for writing to me about your interest in

helping to solve the childhood obesity epidemic.  Children

all across this country are afflicted by poor health and a

lack of nutrition in increasingly devastating numbers.

Childhood obesity rates in America have tripled over the

past three decades, and for the first time in our Nation’s

history, the current generation may be on track to have a

shorter lifespan than their parents.  These trends are

startling, but I am encouraged because I know that

individuals and organizations are already hard at work to

combat this issue.

      And we want to do our part as well.  We recently

launched the Let’s Move! campaign with an ambitious

national goal of solving the challenge of childhood obesity

within a generation so that children born today will reach

adulthood at a healthy weight.   Let’s Move! will engage

every sector impacting the health of children to achieve the

national goal, and will provide schools, families and

communities simple tools to help kids be more active, eat

better, and get healthy.  This initiative is comprehensive,

collaborative, and community-oriented, and it will

specifically address the various factors that lead to

childhood obesity by helping parents make healthier

choices for their families, providing healthier food in

schools, increasing physical activity, and increasing access

to affordable food in all communities.

      We are going to need everyone working together to

achieve our goal, and so I urge you to join us online at

www.LetsMove.gov, where you can stay updated on news

and connect with our efforts.  Our strength as a Nation and

our ability to responsibly shape our future depends upon

tackling this issue, and I hope you stay active in the fight

against obesity in your home community.  We need your

ideas, your hands, and your heart to lead us to a brighter,

healthier tomorrow.

      Thank you again for writing.  I wish you all the

best.

Sincerely,

Michelle Obama